Railway refrigerator car



Dec. 5, 1939.

.R. B. WINSHIP 2,182,652 RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed April 28, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5V K552 52 27.

ATTORN Dec. 5, 1939. R. B. WINSHIP RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed April 28, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR RaZph B.WZ n6h/p ATTO Patented Dec. 5, 1939 A "rates v EJ829552 7 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in construction of insulated refrigerator cars in which metallic framing of the car body supports the insulated walls, roof and floor.

An object of my invention is to limit the transfer of heat between the car body metallic framing and the underframe of the car. In the present conventional refrigerator car it is common to either have the metallic framing outside of the wall insulation or to intermittently break the wall insulation and apply same in panels having the metallic side framing members interposed between the insulation panels. I propose placing the metallic framing inside of the car body exposed to the interior of the car and applying the wall and floor insulation outside of the metallic framing.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for applying the car body insulation without a break between the wall and floor portions. By placing the metallic framing of the car wholly within the car body this is made possible.

Another object of my invention is to reduce the wall thickness of the car, particularly in refrigerator cars of the so-called top bunker type, wherein flues or ducts are constructed within the car wall to provide communicating means between refrigerant and lading space. In the present conventional car the installation of such ducts necessarily increases the wall thickness. By placing the car body metallic framing wholly within the car body I obtain space for ducts between the vertical members of the framing without increasing the th ckness of the car Wall.

Another object of my invention, particularly in refrigerator cars of the so-called top bunker type, is to place the car body metallic framing wholly Within the car body thereby providing a support for refrigerant containers under the car roof. In the present conventional car of this type having external metallc framing it is customary to provide a separate framing to support refrigerant containers. With my improved construction the necessity for independent framing is eliminated.

Another object of my invention is to position the metall c framework of the car body between the insulation and the lading space thereby permitting the floor rack hinging means to be secured directly to the car body framing.

Another object is to provide an internal metallic framework for supporting meat racks.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a typical half cross section of a railway refrigerator car incorporating my improved method of supporting the car superstructure on the underframe.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on 5 Fig. '7 is a perspective of my improvement. 15

My invention is adaptable to a refrigerator car having an insulated wall 2, an insulated roof 3, an insulated floor 4, a floor rack 5 above the insulated floor, and an air space 6 between the floor and floor rack.

A refrigerant container 8 is positioned near the v roof 3 of the car and adjacent the side wall 2 ofthe car. A dra n pipe 9 is preferably provided with means to discharge liquids, draining from the container 8 to the outside of the car. opening it is provided preferably in the roof of the car above the refrigerant container '8 for filling it with a refrigerant or cleaning the container.

The refrigerant container 8is supported onbeams 30 H! which are attached to the steel side framing ll of the car by means of gusset members 82. r A drip pan l3 is positioned under container 8 and spaced away from the bottom thereof to provide an air flue I4 therebetween.

top member spaced apart from a metallic bottom member or side sill ll and spaced apart metallic posts l8 having their upper and lower ends respectively rigidly secured to the top member It o and side sill H.

An insulated partit on I9 is preferably provided on the inside of the posts 58 and spaced apart from the wall 2 to provide a vertical wall flue 20 which communicates with the air space with the air flue I l having contact with the refrigerant container 8. These air fiues 20 are preferably separated into a plurality of vertical fiues by the posts {8.

stiffening means 22 may be used instead of the steel framing ll of Fig. -1. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 4. The metallic plate 23 is preferable for an end wall 23 of the car as it is better 55 A hatch .2

3. The steel side framing H comprises a metallic 45 6 below the floor rack 5 and also communicates 0 If desired a metallic plate 2| provided with adapted to withstand the impact shocks caused by shifting lading than is a framed construction.

My improvement provides means to support the metallic framing ll and/or the plate 2! and also to space same above and away from the metallic transverse members 24 and center sill 25 of the car underframe 216.

The above said means of support comprises preferably a plurality of short columns 2'6 having their bases rigidly secured to the underframe 26 and their tops rigidly secured tothe framing H and/or the plate 2|.

Fig. 7 shows the preferred form of my improvement consisting of a short hollow cylindrical column 21 having a flanged base 28 provided with holes 29 for riveting or bolting to underframe transverse members 24 or center sill 25 and having a flanged top 30 provided with holes 3| for securing to sill I! or flange 32 of metallic plate 2|. It sometimes may be desirable to have more than one column to a supporting unit. As indicated in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 two or more columns having common flanges top and bottom may be used.

While I have described ,a hollow cylindrical column as the preferred form, the column 27 may be solid or shaped other than cylindrical.

The insulation material 33 of the floor 4 extends under the sill ll to meet the insulation material 34 of wall 2. With this arrangement the columns 2'! are completely surrounded by insulation and therefore the only transfer of heat from underframe 26 to framing ll and/or plate 2| will be due to the conductivity of the columns. As the cross sectional area of the columns is relatively small the heat transfer will be correspondingly limited.

If desired the drain pipe 9 may extend through a hollow column 2'! and cold liquid from the refrigerant container 8 allowed to gradually escape and thereby cool the column and retard the transfer of heat between underframe 26 and sill [1.

The preceding description and the accompanying drawings illustrating the pref-erred form of the invention pertain particularly to refrigerator cars of the top bunker type. However my invention can be used to equal advantage in end bunker refrigerator cars. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details of construction shown and described as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

The structure for supporting the refrigerant containers which is disclosed herein is claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 216,732, filed June 30, 1938; the heating pipes disclosed herein are claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 270.573, filed April 28, 1939; and the side wall construction disclosed herein is claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 270,571, filed April 28, 1939.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having an insulated Wall and an insulated floor, said wall having a metallic sill, the edge of the floor insulating material extending under said sill, a metallic underframe positioned below said floor and means for supporting said sill on said underframe, said means comprising columns, the top ends of said columns rigidly secured to said sill and the bottom ends of said columns rigidly secured to said underframe, said columns being of small cross sectional area thereby limiting the transfer of heat between said sill and said underframe.

2. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall and an insulated floor, said wall having metallic framing comprising a metallic top member, metallic posts and a metallic sill exposed to the interior of the car, the edge of the floor insulating material extending under said sill, a metallic underframe positioned below said floor and means for supporting said sill on said underframe, said means comprising short columns, the top ends of said columns rigidly secured to said sill and the bottom ends of said columns rigidly secured to said underframe, said columns being of small cross sectional area thereby limiting the transfer of heat between the interior and exterior of the car.

3. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall and an insulated floor, said wall having metallic framing comprising a metallic top member, metallic posts and a metallic sill exposed to the interior of the car, the edge of the floor in sulating material extending under and in contact with said sill, a metallic underframe positioned below said floor and means for supporting said sill on said underframe, said means comprising short colums,-the top ends of said columns rigidly secured to said sill and the bottom ends of said columns rigidly secured to said underframe, said columns being of small cross sectional area and surrounded by the floor insulating material positioned below said sill thereby limiting the transfer of heat between the interior and exterior of the car.

4. In a'refrigerator car having an insulated roof, a refrigerant container adjacent the roof, an insulated wall and an insulated floor, said wall having a metallic sill, the edge of the floor insulating material extending under said sill, a metallic underframe positioned below said floor and means for supporting said sill on said underframe, said means comprising hollow columns, the top ends of said columns rigidly secured to said sill and the bottom ends of said columns rig idly secured to said underframe, said columns being of small cross sectional area, and means for cooling said columns, said cooling being accomplished by permitting liquid refrigerant to escape from said refrigerant container through conduits, said conduits extending through the hollow columns and discharging outside of the car body thereby limiting the transfer of heat between the interior and exterior of the car.

5. In a refrigerator car having an insulated roof, a refrigerant container adjacent the roof, an insulated wall and an insulated floor, said wall having metallic framing comprising a metallic top member, metallic posts and a metallic sill exposed to the interior of the car, the edge of the floor insulating material extending under and in contact with said sill,'a metallic underframe positioned below said'fioor and means for transfer of heat between the interior and exterior of the car.

6. In a refrigerator car body having insulated walls, roof and floor, metallic framing positioned between the insulation and the lading space in said car, a metallic underframe positioned below the car floor and means for supporting said metallic framing on said underframe, said means comprising short columns, the top ends of said columns rigidly secured to said metallic framing and the bottom ends of said columns rigidly secured to said underframe, said columns being of relatively small cross sectional area and surrounded by the insulating material of said floor thereby limiting the transfer of heat between the car body:metallic framing and the metallic underframe.

'7. In a refrigerator car body having insulated walls, roof and floor, metallic framing positioned between the insulation and the lading space in said car, a refrigerant container adjacent the an air duct below the lading, communicating means to permit the flow of air from the refrigerant container to the space between floor' and floor rack, said means consisting of a duct positioned between vertical members of said metallic framing, a metallic underframe positioned below the car floor and means for supporting said metallic framing on said underframe, said last mentioned means comprising short columns, the top ends of said columns rigidly secured to said metallic framing and the bottom ends of said columns rigidly secured to said underframe, said columns being of relatively small cross sectional area and surrounded by the insulating material of said floor thereby limiting thetransfer of heat between the car body metallic framing and the metallic underframe.

' RALPH B. WINSHIP. 

